The One I Can't Lose Is You
by Yoseia Nasuka
Summary: One day, Lise, Duran, and Kevin meet up with Angela at the inn, and continue their journey, yet something else is blocking their way, leading to their discovery of something else...A/D, K/L H/J *UPDATED with a real chap and apologies to all*
1. An extreme apology

Alright, all those old reviewers, and possibly those who are going to read this right now.  
I AM SORRY FOR THE OOCNESS, BECAUSE...  
  
A.) I've only PLAYED Lise as the third character. Which DIDN'T include Hawk. Therefore I DIDN'T see her talk much.   
At all. But she does do all the smart comments, so I supposed she was quiet, and intelligent.  
  
B.) Kevin is really meek right now, because he DEVELOPS. It's called CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.  
  
C.) It's fun to make Angela and Lise double team up :D  
  
So what am I saying? I'm going to CHANGE IT ALL. I already filled out the layout, but when I got all those flamees(or rather, just those people who shouted: OOC! AHHH!! OOC!!), I was like: Hmm, maybe I should use Lise more.  
Then I started to kill myself.  
  
IT'S BECAUSE OF YOU PEOPLE THAT I CHANGED THE ENTIRE FREAKING PLOT OF THE STORY!!  
  
Uh, and mine of course, heh heh.  
  
I'll be working really hard on this, and if you see another update, rejoice! I've actually made time with the five projects, two worksheets per teacher a day, and a bunch of random tests and quizzes that's called "Spring Break Preparation"!!  
  
Pulled...too many overnighters...must go...to sleep...  
  
...but still have ten worksheets and an interview...  
  
...damn... 


	2. Duran's day

Lise, Kevin, and Duran walked toward the inn in Moonlight City Mintos.  
"I TOLD you, Duran, to take a right." Lise scoffed, the usual ice clad in green. Duran scowled.  
"How was I supposed to know that?"  
"Brawn and no brains." She muttered.  
"Alright, now that's just-"  
"About time...rest." Kevin said meekly, grabbing the two's gashed and bloodied arms in emphasis. Duran growled as he opened the door, and Lise winced under her breath at the firm grip of the half beastman.  
  
Today had not been Duran's day. He had spent the day before to right now on the back of the giant turtle Booskaboo, completely hanging on the end of the thread of life, constantly bickering with Lise to where they should go. In the end, they ran around in circles until Kevin, stu-er, unthoughtful as he was, suggested that they listened to him, because he came from there. It took Kevin seven times repeating this throughout the day until they listened to him. Duran still wondered how he got out of Mintos to Jad when they pointed to the map.  
  
"120 Luc please." The innkeeper stated. Lise pressed the coins silently onto the counter, while the innkeeper stared closely at Kevin.  
"Er...hi?" Kevin followed this nervous statement with a small wave of his hand.  
"Hey, you, I know you. You're that Beast King's son?" He pointed to the poster on the wall with Kevin's face on it. "Must be hard eh? Got involved with the wrong woman, that guy. Heard he had a pacifist maniac for a son, he did." The innkeeper squinted at Kevin. "Although you mighty look like the kid, you certainly seemed to have changed." The man shot a glance at Lise and Duran. "Lived the _human_ way, have you? I swear, if you weren't a pacifist, I'd have to say you'd got no brains to be with those filthy, dir-"  
  
Today had not been Duran's day. He didn't need to listen to this.  
  
"STOP THAT CRAP YOU BASTARD!" Duran pointed his heavy broadsword at the innkeeper, one foot on the counter.  
"D-Duran, uh, I...no mind, you.." Kevin was cut short by Duran's piercing glare. The glare of a knight.  
"You shut up too, Kevin! You're always like that! The only thing I CAN agree on with this idiot is that you're way too meek!" Duran turned his attention to the innkeeper again. "I don't give a damn about if you've that _superior_" He spat. "beastmen blood of them, but keep the damned hell away from us! We needed an innkeeper, not a son of a bitch critic."  
"Duran! There's no need to make enemies in every town we go!" Lise pushed him the way to the stairs to their rooms. "Please give us the keys." The innkeeper, shaken, pressed two keys into her outstretched hand. Lise glanced at them. "Sir, I believe there's a mis-"  
"Nope, missy. We've only got three empty spots in this inn today, and both are doubles. One of them's got a customer in there already, that one's 253. If you don't mind."  
  
"As if we got a choice." Duran growled once they arrived at their rooms. "Listen, I'm sharing a room with Kevin, cope with the other person, would ya Lise?" Lise gave him an icy glare.  
"If the other person's a be-" She stopped. "man, I would much rather not like to be with him if he JUST HAPPENS to not have a nice disposition." Lise implied the possibilities that could happen. Kevin didn't follow, but Duran certainly did.  
"Think about it. What man would want you? Not only that, but any person would keep me up all night if they were a bother, man or woman." Lise took offense to this, and fought the fire with ice.  
"You would go on torturing Kevin by repeatedly complaining about your bad luck down to every single hair which protruded out of your MANE, making it so that NOBODY could sleep." Neither of these two were about to be outdone, and they battled till the already setting sun completely hid its face from the world's view. And still, Kevin did not know what to do at this battle of verbal power.  
"Why don't..._I_ go, then-" Kevin's attempt of creating a resolution to pacify them only made them turn their faces towards him with murderous sparks in their eyes. "Euh."  
"How horrid of you, Duran, to use Kevin as your scapegoat." Lise stated coldly.  
"Yeah RIGHT! I wouldn't be stuck with you if my life depended on it!"  
'Actually, it kind...does.' Kevin thought to himself. Duran continued.  
"I'd rather sleep on the splintered floor than share a room with you!" This popped a vein in Lise's forehead.  
"Then why don't you do just that, maniac of Forcena!" She wanted to shriek, but kept her voice as low as possible, still hard and piercing like her lance. "However, _I_ don't plan on doing that!" She dragged Kevin with her and slammed the door. Duran watched as 253's keys were shoved underneath the door, thrown by, most probably, Lise. He picked them up with ferocity, and jammed them into the keyhole, swearing while he twisted the key.  
  
Today was not Duran's day. Especially not once he saw who else was in his room. 


	3. The night

"NO...way!! That's-that's-" He saw THAT woman, again! She had put together the two single beds and was plopped diagonally on them. This showed the pamperment of her childhood. Furthermore, she was also part of the people who invaded Forcena! And he had to share a room with her?! Duran could not believe his luck.  
  
On the bed(s) was Angela.  
  
This really popped a vein in Duran's forehead. He flicked on the lights and stabbed the floor with his sword in his anger, only meaning to set it down. The princess of Altena woke immediately in a start. She screeched,  
"PERRRRVEEEEEERT!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Duran finally got his broadsword to stay upright in the ground.  
"YOU THINK THIS WAS MY FAULT?! DAMN THAT BASTARD INNKEEPER!" Angela grabbed her sheets.  
"GET OUT OF THIS ROOM!"  
"IT'S YOUR FAULT FOR GETTING A DOUBLE!" Duran shouted back, silently cursing Lise.  
  
"What is that _racket_ he's making for?" Lise turned under her sheets.  
"Sounds....is Angela." Kevin stated. Lise's eyes widened at this coincidence, then relaxed again.  
"It's what he deserves." Lise muttered.  
"But I thinks...you like him." Lise jumped up at this statement, a little more than she herself expected to.  
"What makes you think that? That over-his-head knight?!"  
"Knight for King Richard." Was the half beastman's reply. "You... is amazon princess. Both you have pride. Must have pride. Why you only..mean to him? Pride." Lise made out another feeling in Kevin's voice, but she couldn't understand what it was. She didn't bother, either, because the truth of this statement dawned on her. Hadn't she always disliked it when he kept dragging out the argument? Hadn't she always disliked that last word attitude? But hadn't she kept the arguments too? Didn't she always want the last word and they both matched until Kevin broke it up?  
"...sorry." She whispered underneath the racket of Angela throwing things at Duran in the other room. Amazingly, Kevin still heard her(must be wolf genes) and replied,  
"No need be sorry." Despite the screams and shouts in the other room, Lise of Rolante slowly drifted to sleep. Her mind flashed one more word to her, and she smiled.  
'...Kevin...'  
  
"Zzzz..zzz..." Angela was fast asleep. Finally, in Duran's opinion. It took him awhile to persuade Angela to only take one bed, the other which he dragged to the other side of the room.  
"Zz...cold, nnnn..." The girl mumbled in her sheets. Duran looked over, and saw that her sheets had slipped off the bed, and the very last corner had thumped softly to the ground. He flushed, and threw his sheets back, getting into the bed.  
'Dammit, why does she sleep nude...it's her own fault, dammit' He gripped his burning face with his hands. 'Dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit...'  
"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU BASTARD KOREN!!" Duran jumped and saw the woman clawing the air, tossing. His face went ' O_O;; '. "...you made her cold...I'm cold..." She hugged herself, shivering in both dream and reality.  
  
Now, Duran felt a Catch-22 crawling up his back. Since he hated a distressed woman, yet hated Angela as a person, and needed sleep, there were two things he could do. One, walk up to the naked girl and put the sheets back on so she'd quiet, or two leave her writhing like that. If he didn't cover her, she would wake up in the morning, thinking he did something while she was asleep. On the other hand, if he went over, he'd comfort that goddamned woman, OR she could wake up and REALLY think he was trying to do something.  
'Damn my life! Damn my life!' He thought repeatedly to himself. He turned towards the wall, and went 'O__O'. There was a huge hole in the wall, and Kevin had stuck his face in it. Duran jumped back and fell off his bed, making a huge CLUNK CLANK, yet didn't disturb Angela's sleep, since she was shouting to herself anyways.  
"Hi, Duran!" He said cheerfully, seemingly talking to Duran's legs, the only part left he could see. Duran's legs twitched.  
"Y-you! That hole-!" Duran came back up, not knowing what to say. Kevin blinked.  
"Oh, I made it. Chew. This were oak. Bad. I live off wood....sometime at home...when I got lost." He replied. Duran omitted to tell him the fact that that kind of behavior isn't exactly typical, and doesn't really show good eating habits.  
"Uh, anyway Kevin, could you cover that bi-er, Angela with her sheets? I mean, she's ranting about how cold she is in her sleep." Kevin looked over, and shook his head.  
"Last time she..fall on me...we fell off cliff...then she say 'Pervert' and hit me." He replied, making a face when he recalled those memories. Duran stared at him, stupified with disbelief and the fact that Angela could be such an idiot. Most people no hit Kevin...agh, now he's talking like Kevin.  
  
"Why'd you make the hole, anyways, Kevin?" Duran inquired.  
"I don't...want to go this trip." Kevin looked down, his face fallen. "I...no want to meet Beast King right now. I...no prepared." Duran sighed.  
"Listen, Kevin, you're coming whether you LIKE IT OR NOT. You HAVE to. How else will we get the faerie back and Karl's revenge?" He pointed out.  
"Angela." Was the short, simple, yet ENRAGING reply.  
"WHAT?! NO! NO. WAY! You're ALL insane, but she's THE MOST!!" Duran more or less roared.  
"She know magic." Kevin pointed out meekly.  
"No she doesn't! That's why she got kicked out of Altena in the first place!"  
"She do now."  
"How do you know?!"  
"I saw her in Snowfield using magic. She actually very nice."  
"WHAT? WHEN WAS THIS?"  
"While you two eat in Elrand. After we...fall off cliff." Kevin's face twisted again. Duran sighed, thinking 'Kevin is hopeless' over and over again, making variations sometimes too. After a moment's pause, Duran now emphasized his words sharply, grasping the 15 year old's shoulders.  
"No. Way. I'm not leaving the only other guy here with strength and, uh," Duran forced out the half lie. "sense in this city, who's been ranting about getting his best friend's revenge ever since it-er-he was murdered. Kevin, we CAN try to recruit Angela, but you, YOU are definitely coming!" This seemed to more or less brighten Kevin's face, and after a moment he agreed, and retreated back to his bed.  
  
During the entire talk, Angela was sleeptalking, and Duran had finally reached a decision. He walked over toward her, covering his eyes with one hand. He hit the wall.  
"Ow!!" He peeked one eye, and saw he missed the sheets by a foot. The Forcenan fighter grabbed the sheets and with one 'swoosh', covered Angela. The princess immediately fumbled for a hold on the sheets, at last grasping them.  
"Mmnnmm...warm..." She murmured. Looking at her, Duran had to smile, even if just a little bit.  
'Who knew the owner of such a face could turn out to be such a loudmouthed brat...' He more or else chuckled, walking to his bed, and a part of his mind was absolutely speechlessly surprised at this display. The fighter of Forcena and son of Loki, had chuckled. Just by looking at the face of the princess of Altena.  
"...Duran.. ... ..." Came a soft mumble. Duran turned around. Did he heard what he thought he heard? He walked back next to Angela. "For Altena...I am sorry...don't go..." Duran, wide-eyed, stood over her.  
  
And then she woke up.  
  
"KYAAAAA~~~!! PERRRVEEEERRRT~~~~~!!" Angela looked at Duran, who had fallen back to the floor in surprise. "Y-YOU!! I KNEEEEW YOU WOULD DO SOMETHING! PERV!!" Duran twitched. This was going to be a long night. 


	4. The Joker

Kevin woke up, stretching his arms, and yawned. He looked at the clock, whose wooden cuckoo had jumped out at that moment. It was 4:00 a.m.  
"Duran! Wake up!!" The half beastman stuck his head into the hole in the wall cheerfully. Duran didn't stir. He had been so tired he didn't even have the energy to snore. "Duran! Duran? DURRRAAAN!!" Kevin did his best to wake the man up. The grappler watched as the fighter violently tried to swipe Kevin's hand, and Kevin saw Duran's face. His eyes widened. Duran's face was completely covered with cane marks and hand-shaped bruises.  
"Shuuuut UUUUUPPP Keeeevinnnn...." Duran's swollen eyes opened just enough that he could shove Kevin's face out of the wall.  
"..." The Beast King's son realized this was hopeless. But what should he do now? Odd man that the grappler always was, he decided to go out take a walk.  
  
Lise woke up, and got out of the bed, and the very first thing she heard was the clock, ringing out the very last 'kuu' from its wooden cuckoo. She stared at the hands, squinting through her still half asleep eyes. It was 7:00 a.m. . Lise looked over to the unmade bed of Kevin, and her eyes bulged in surprise. Unsurprisingly he wasn't there. Oh no, that wasn't what made her sweatdrop in surprise. It was the fact that there gorged a huge hole about the ratio of a woodpecker's hole to a woodpecker itself, and through that hole was the swollen, limp, tired, and deformed face of the proud Duran. And the man wasn't even snoring. Remembering her thoughts the other day, she left a honey drink near Duran's bed.  
  
Angela peeped through one eye. It was still night in Mintos, as the moon always turned its face towards the city and forest, its beams catching onto Angela's purple hair. She woke up just as the cuckoo sung its ring of 10:00 a.m. Yesterday had been such a long night. The princess turned her head to her-unfortunately-roommate. His back to Angela, Duran's rather long orange hair was sprawled on the pillow, and he didn't even stir. A rather quiet sleeper for such a loud man.  
'Was I too harsh on him? ...Naw...' She proceeded to get dressed.  
  
Duran gave his first snore of the night at 1:00 p.m.  
  
~*~  
  
Deathjester bounced out of the room, immediately seething once the 'slam' of the door rang through the huge corridors. There was something about that Beast King which didn't particularly match his tastes. He looked at the brainwashed Heath, who nodded. Nothing left but to call THAT woman out...  
  
"Amara jiyo no apara SU!" The wall he faced twisted and contorted counterclockwise. The face of a girl whose jet-black, almost unnaturally straight hair's tips reached just below her jaw in the front, appeared. She proceeded to lean her head forward, revealing that her hair, in the back, shortened to just reached the upper part of her neck. The rest of her body came along out as if the discontorted wall were water. The woman was dressed in garments exactly like the Deathjester's, although her hat only had one end instead of two. She half smiled, half smirked at the magicians before her.  
  
~*~  
  
Kevin came back to the inn, finding Lise and Angela dragging the sleeping Duran out of the door by the arms.  
"Ah! It's Kevin!" Angela made a small wave, which Kevin returned as he walked toward them. "Hey hey, guess what? I decided to join your little group here! Kinda felt sorry for Lise, you know?"  
"That...good to hear!" Kevin shot a wide smile. "But...about Duran?" Angela glanced at the still sleeping fighter, who was now snoring as loudly as a person could.  
"...I say we feed the pervert to the dogs. There's a lot of them here, right?" Angela looked towards Lise for approval. Kevin was just a LITTLE bit perturbed at the idea.  
"Uh...how bout wake up?" He suggested a little nervously. They looked at him, and Lise sighed, knowing there really was only one way to wake the guy up.  
"Duran." She poked Duran's stomach with the end of her lance. "Wake up, Duran." They watched as Duran discontorted, twitched, and fell back. The girls exchanged looks. "You insisted, Angela." The magician smiled and started bashing him with her weapon, while Lise, though sweatdropping at Angela's antics, gently prodded him.  
"WAKE UP PERV!" Kevin's face completely read 'O_O!!'  
"Er..Euh.." He decided to inch away.  
"OWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Duran got up as abruptly as a just sleeping person could.  
"Let's go already! I'm tired of waiting!!" The princess of Altena flicked her hair back. Lise just nodded the forward path, holding out the forgotten honey. Duran seethed.  
"Alright, alright! Let's go!" He stumbled towards the forest, and the rest proceeded in.  
'Just like Duran...' Lise thought with a minor annoyance.  
  
~*~  
  
Upon looking at the woman, Deathjester was beginning to wonder if he made a mistake in summoning her. After she sat herself in the air in crosslegged fashion, she covered her mouth with one hand in exaggerated amazement and gasped audibly.  
"Aiya! Why, how rare is it that you let me out, my dear twin!" She said in mocking shock, using a rather flirty tone. "Yet to greet me for my first visit in a decade while hiding behind a mask is so rude!" Deathjester didn't say anything that was on his mind, which was a LOT. This was the twin who gave her soul to pure magic, turning herself to but a wisp of a being.  
  
The Mana Stone of Darkness had a double face. It lost itself to God of Chaos, whose light was opposite that of Goddess of Mana's, as Moon to Tree, and Earth to Wind. It then became the bridge to Chaos, for all those who live in Mana's possession, and vice versa. The God of Chaos saw that its people were all dieing in the melee which was his, but this was Chaos. Chaos had Self-Destruction under his grasp, while Mana had Order under hers. The god quickly flung a book, a book of the darkest spells imaginable, into the ever shrinking gate that appeared since some very special one had shattered the order of the Darkness Stone. In this book were spells on releasing the Mana Stones' powers, and a bait, the Exchange of Souls Spell, to bring living things to his universe.  
  
Deathjester had to thank his stars that the Spell only gave his sister less of a body, and more of magic. If she had lost her soul completely, who knows what she could do in this place? He thought these prospects as his twin jumped down from her perch in the air to in front of Heath.  
"I see you have an assistant, Jester?" She examined the boy from Wendel closely. "Aiya, aiya! He has much potential! Hidden well underneath that such a cute face, na, but still there! If trained right, he may surpass you!" Then she turned her head to Deathjester, who was deep in thought and jumped at the idea. "Ie, that would not be good, considering the blank eyes of this boy. If he were to be free of your grasp, that would not be very hao ya?" She exaggerated the last two foreign words.  
"Agh! Where did you get this language accent?" Deathjester pretended to slap himself in frustration at the way she mix matched words of a different language. "Couldn't you just say 'That's no good'?" The transparent woman grinned in that way which suggested something else.  
"I'll keep in mind that the people of Mana only have one language."  
"Getting a little too good in your head, dear Joker sis?"  
"Why else should I be called here? It isn't your BIRTHDAY today, is it now? Ai! That would mean it's mine too!" She covered her mouth with her hand in exaggerated surprise again. Deathjester's vein popped. Sometimes she really just got on his nerves.  
"Just to clean up a little garbage that is getting the way of my plans." He twirled the air to suggest something.  
"If you very must wish, my dear nii-chan." She made an overly fancy bow and whisked herself.  
"Heath, boy, what does nii-chan mean?" Deathjester, sulky, looked back to Heath.  
"Very informal and chatty way of saying brother." Heath replied. Heath was the one who studied the books of languages included in the book by Chaos. This, to Deathjester, was a good way of a. obtaining information and b. taking up his mindspace so to restrict the capacity of magic he could hold.  
Deathjester half heaved, half grunted his exasperation. Joker, that girl damn her, could really get out of hand. A lot.  
  
Joker, on the other hand, was enjoying herself thoroughly. Being but a trace of a being she quickly found out which people Deathjester had on his mind, and soared through the skies whose Mana was dissapating at an incredible rate. After not a very long search, she found her targets.  
"This time, Joker shall be the one who plays....!" She pulled out a card from her pocket while announcing this to herself in a girly tone. Joker smiled mischieviously down at the quartet. "Puppetmaster 3." 


	5. Her Arrival

Alright...here's the thing I've been slaving on along with a million other things. I'm sorry if it isn't, uh, the best thing ever, but PLEASE KEEP IN MIND that I'm changing the entire framework for the stories, so GR to you all. I hate overnighters... ;.; 

So...the review thank you section, which I'm sure is the reason why most of you review in the first place 

Weiila - Yup. Lise sure was. ;.; I'm changing!! Please, I'm changing! *begs* 

Halee - Wow. WOW. My first reviewer who didn't say anything bad! Yay~~!! *dances around in happiness* Thank you! 

Rosa-Aquafire - Alright...I understand! That's why I posted the first chapter in the first place! ;.; And just for you, I've fitted in Hawk...somewhere in the very near future. 

Hades - YAY! I LOVE YOU! *hug* Somebody who understood what I was getting at!! I can't tell you how much better that makes me feel... 

Wind Mage - No...I'm pretty sure it's Heath. First time you've seen a K/L romance? Check out Those NOT Chosen By the Fairy by Weiila. A lot better than wasting your time on this, I can tell you that. 

Holy_Knight - Wai~~~ thank you~~~ I've been working hard on this especially for you. I can't believe people actually like this... 

Yeah. So anyway... 

There's going to be references to different languages, because Joker's just like that. They are... 

-niichan = Japanese for brother (very cute way of saying it) 

je = French for I 

je m'appelle = French for My name is 

I had to learn html all by myself ;.; What about all the pleas I made?? I asked so many people...but...none of them answered... I personally think there should be a one return tag thing, but anyway... 

Lise's good nature had considerably dropped ever since Duran joined the party. The first time she had met him, he had let them out of a jail cell. Of course, that was a good thing, but she had to admit insulting people who were only doing their job wasn't the way to go. 

Fortunately, Angela was there to keep his ego in check. 

"No...that way looks better..." Duran pointed to a direction with his sword. Angela gave him this disbelieving look. 

"You idiot! Did fighting those wolves mess up what's left of your mind?" She pouted. 

"That's the way we came!" Duran grumbled. 

"Hey...it all looks the same you know!" 

"No it doesn't!" 

"Yes it-" 

_"No it doesn't!"_

"Fine fine..." Duran went in another direction. Angela smiled behind his back. Speaking of wolves... 

"Kevin, um...I know this is kind of rude, but..." The half beastman looked at her questioningly. "Are you alright with killing those werewolves? I mean, you _are_ one yourself..." Kevin gave her a small grin. 

"They already dead!" He replied cheerfully. Lise raised an eyebrow. "Spirits...bad beastmen come back," The wolf explained with his broken speech. "We fight, they die, come back tomorrow." Lise sweatdropped. 

"Uh...that's kind of spooky..." She thought out loud. Kevin shook his head. 

"Every day...same. Me an' others...used to it!" Lise had a crude yet sad remark in her head that groaned: I don't think I'll ever understand beastmen. Duran slashed open another chest. It exploded into his face. He blinked questioningly. And started to turn red as the magician behind him sighed in exasperation. 

"Duran...I told you, you shouldn't open chests..." Angela, her arms folded, gave him another look. The knight flustered even more. He pulled out the prize. His face automatically fell. 

"I...got a Stardust Herb?" He said, hesistantly. Angela sighed, and looked around. 

"Uh...Lise? Kevin?" She searched some more. "Ehh...I think we lost them..." Duran groaned. 

"Let's go look for them. They probably just had another chat and forgot about moving forward." He brushed off leftover bomb dust. Angela arched a delicate eyebrow. 

"So you know them that well, eh?" She asked, her mind wondering how he had the brain capacity. Duran nodded. 

"You'd think they were married or something, I don't know," Duran got up from the ground, and started walking back from where the two had came from. Angela moved a step with him, and stopped. 

_Kyahahahaha...why, you must be Angela..._ A voice with a smooth blend of accents laughed. Angela looked back. Nothing. Accents? There was only one language on this world since a long time! 

"Hey...Duran, did you notice that?" She asked, as Duran whirled around. "Hmm...you mean that weird feeling we're getting followed? Yeah." "No! I meant the voice-" 

_Princess...traveling with the Mana hero wanna-bes, eh? You have absolutely no relation with Deathjester-niichan, but..._

Angela yelled. She looked back at Duran, who was shaken by her scream. "You...how could you not hear that? It's so creepy and-" 

_Koren-san was one of my summoners...I guess je should take care of you..._

The air distorted like a drop of water falling on a lake. As if the world was one ocean, a foot clad in an elvish-like shoe slipped out from the air. Following came the hands... 

_I am...the one called the Master of the Cards..._

The entire body relieved itself of the grasping air. Opening her brilliant magneta eyes, the woman was wearing an outfit similar to Deathjester. 

"Je m'appelle...Deathjoker, sister of Deathjester-niichan," Her voice echoed lightly through the air. This completely surprised the duo. 

"You...are..." Duran flinched. Deathjoker smirked at him. 

"What, going on?!" Kevin scrambled through the bushes, following right behind him Lise. The girl smirked. 

"Aiyaiyai...and here's two Mana Heroes..." She flicked out a deck. 

"Angela, Duran! Who is she?" Lise asked, turned towards them. Duran unsheathed his sword. 

"Deathjester's...sister!" He growled, and faced the woman. "Why...Why are you here?!" She laughed again, this time remarkably chilly in her tone. She dangled out a puppet...a puppet on strings. The cards from her deck fluttered to the ground. Deathjoker looked back up, and smiled mischieviously. Duran's ears popped as he was knocked to the ground. The impact caused his vision to blur with a red gauze, and he heard Angela shriek,

_"DURAN--!"_ It was a piercing cry, and Duran heaved himself from the ground. His eyes widened. His mouth started to open at the figure he saw above him, the one whose fist dripped with blood. However, Lise finished his thought. She whispered, 

"K...Kevin?" 


End file.
